Playing cards



M. B. REACH.

PLAYING CARDS..

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8. 1921.

Patented May 30, 1922 2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

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PLAYING CARDS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8, 1921 418,020; Patented May 30, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

u QNALVSLS 03' (lav m HAND No. TbTAL 4504055 56 Vbmn's \-N 3 Horvons Z7 Game I25 I58 PbuvTs Z-E-W 5(1EART5 aOVom s I HONORS '32 GAME I25 I97 V01 NTS 5-N-3 GNO'WUMVS 6070mm HONORS 4O GRANDfiAMlOO GAME 1Z5 325 Vomns J SCORE M No R TH QndSQUTH Posmows fmcns 300 POINTS HONORS I700 TOTAL PAR 2000 Rams EAST and WEST Posmows TRICKS 240 POINTS (Iowans i560 TOTAL PAR I800 Rmns k HANDICAP ZOO POINTS HILTON IB. REACH, OF CHICOPEE, MASSACHUSETTS.

PLAYING alums.

' Application 'filed June 8,

. To'all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MILTON B. REAoH, a citizen of the United States, and resldent of Chicopee, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Playing Cards,of which the following is a specification.

In the playing of duplicate br1dge, wh st, or like games Where the players arescoring against par or against the score of other players on a predetermined hand or series of predetermined hands 1t is important that the players be relieved from mental effort or strain in dealing the cards or keeping track ofthe deals or of the rotation of the-hands, so that each player may devote himself mainly to the game itself, and not have his attention diverted by the handling of paraphernalia or by more or less complex plans of dealing.

In carrying out my invention, I provide what I term a direction indicator to indicate at sight and without-mental effort whether the card is to go to the player at the dealers right, left, to himself or opposite, and this indicatoris of such a character as to indicate location in respect to the dealer and not of that character, such as a number or letter, which necessarily mustchange from player to layer as the successive hands are dealt, and thus require closer attention to avoid confusion and error, particularly on the part of the le% experienced players.

Other features of my invention will be fully described hereinafter, and particular pointed out in the claims.

The drawing shows in Fig. 1 the back' of a playing card madeac cording to my invention.

Fig. 2 indicates a blank showing one of the stages in making-the card of Fig.1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion Specification of Letters Patent.

- mu t be dealt.

1921. Serial No. 475,998.

shown in Fig. 2, which have impressed thereon a suitable color background and also symbols, as numbers or letters in numerlcal or alphabetical order, to designate the rotation of hands. For instance, the numeral 1 would indicate the first hand played or in other words, the first round of play, the numeral 2 the second rotation of the hands and so on.

In the present instance, the card would bear four series or groups of symbols, two

of these series being at the top of the card and the other two in reversed position at the bottom of the card, and in the present instance each series runsfrom 1 to 9, indicating that eighteen different hands or rounds may be played. 7

These blanks are kept in storage by the manufacturer and when a number of packs are to be marked, having indications thereon for the desired predetermined hands, the

Patented May 30,1922.

desired-number of packs of blanks are withdrawn from storage and upon their backs and in proper relation to the indices, as 1, 2, 3, etc., or letters A, B, C, etc., already printed thereon, the deal location indicators and, symbol enclosures are printed The manufacturer iswhus enabled, in an economical manner, to place on the market,

as Q

a great variety of games, one set following the other at proper intervals, so that the the market may be kept active by bringing out packs with new hands to take the place of those which have become more or less stale, all ofthe packs being printed from the blanks previously prepared.

The dealindicators are preferably in the form of pointers, such as a, which indicates at. a glance the direction in which the card round number 1 is being dealt, the card illus-' tratedwvould be dealt to the dealer. If hand or round number 2 was being dealt, the same For instance, if hand or i of the card to show the background, which card would go to the player at the dealers.

is omitted from Fig. 1. right, because in the first instance, the indi- Fig. 4 IS a View of a card to be placed cator a points to the dealer, whereas in the 1n the pack in a sealed envelope. By reason second instance mentioned, the indicator of the limitations of space, I have attempted points towards the right. In the hand' i to show only a part of the data which such number 3, the card would ,go to the dealers element would bear in actual practice.

Fig. 5 illustrates another card bearing data as to the handicap allowed.

In the manufacture of the cards I first make up in large quantity blanks such as partner, so also it would do so in deal number 4. In deal number 5 the card would go to the player at the dealers left.

. These pointers form portions of markings which divide up the field. of. d p y nto a number of enclosures in which the indices first mentioned are located. These enclosures in the present instance are provided by circles 12 or segmentsof circles, which connect with the pointers. These pointers are printed preferably in solid color and they are in the general form of the head of an arrow. The markings above described, in turn, may be enclosed with comparatively heavy border hnes c of rectangular formathe proper players, and he does not have, to

keep in mind any arbitrary plan of differentiation, as would be the case if, say, a combination of letters and figures were used. In such case the letters indicate one thing and the numbers another, and a careless or indifferent player may become confused and reverse the indications. With the pointers, however, this cannot occur. It will be noticed thateach player is left free to exercise his own judgment in laying down the cards. There is no indicator as to the plays which are to be made, and thus the relative skill of the players determines the outcome of the game.

It will be clear that the markings on the card taken with the colored background enter into the design and distinctive and pleasing effects may be secured.

The pointers are inherently indicative of the direction in which the cards must be dealt, and are thus distinguished from arbitrary letter and numeral indications.

Auction bridge is now played in the following manner: The cards are shuffled, then dealt into four individual hands of thirteen cards each, the value of the individual hands is appraised by the individual players holdenables him through inference to possiblylocate certain cards in his opponents hands,

to his right or left, that may increase the .value of his own hand, and by a law of averages that in any ordinary distribution of cards he could reasonably count on at'least two tricks in his partners hand. Hence, if

the original bidder sees within his own hand six reasonably assured tricks, counting on an average of two tricks in his partners tract to take eight tricks. If he went this far and his partner raised his bid one or two more, that would be an indication that his partner had that many more tricks over and above the average counted on.

These hands, of course, vary greatly in the distribution of cards. A game consists of thirty points. Different suits have different values. Clubs count '6 points to the trick;

- diamonds, 7 points; hearts, 8 points; spades,

9 points; no trump, 10 points. It will be seen that a bidder with a strong club hand must take five tricks for game, also the diamond hand; hearts, 4 tricks; spades, l tricks; no trump, 3 tricks. Now it is conceivable that an individual hand may be good for five hearts or 40 points that will go game by taking four tricks. In other words, an error may occur in play but the margin of safety still enables the player to go game.

To offset this distribution of luck and to compare equalities of play, the game of duplicate auction was devised. This game is played just like regular bridge only there is a board containing four compartments to hold the separate hands which are kept separate as played, and after a certain number of boards have been played, whatever number may be decided upon at the beginning,

each others hands. In this game there is,

of course, a reward for better play and an opportunity for one pair of players to correct and profit by the mistakes of the other pair, 7 However, the standard of play is the respective skill of the players and varies accordingly. The score is the difference between the two sets of play. In other words, a series of boards must be played before a standard can be determined, and as above stated, this standard may be faulty.

In the game which I propose, the original hands are all compiled in advance of the manufacture of cards. The weak and the strong hands are each correctly judged and appraised according to sound rules of bridge. These hands are then reproduced on the back of the card in the preferred form which my invention shows, and the opposing players then play against a fixed perfect score for each group of hands, weak and strong. vIn addition to this the have the opportunity of repla-ying the car s as in duplicate bridge.

Each pack of cards will contain a supplementary card within the pack that records the value in points of each hand which may be designated as northand south, east and west. This card will be placed .in a sealed envelope and it would not be referred to until the hands have been played. Then the score of those hands would bechecked up be placed in the pack, a statement would be made somewhat as follows: The master hands in this pack lie north and south, the eighteen hands being good for 2,000 points; the east and west hands are goodfor 1,800 points. So that the players in sitting down to play would know that east and west were to receive a handicap of 200 point-s to properly balance their respective play.

It will be noticed that in my present embodiment of the invention the indices for the direction of the deal are located at different sides of the indices for the rotation of hands.

Thus the deal index a for the hand rotation index 1 is below it. The deal direction index for the index 2 is at its right,

closed areas with deal indicating symbols alike in character located thereat, each of said symbols being one of a series corresponding in number to the number of rotationsof the hands, the directions of the deals being indicated by the different locations of the symbols in respect to said enclosed areas.

2. A playing card having the back surface thereof provided with indices for the rotation of the hands, each index bein enclosed by a line having at one point a eal direction indicator, substantially as described.

, 3. A pack of playing cards having 'on the back of each of the cards a plurality of symbols, one for each rotation of the hands andpositioned in consecutive order corre sponding with the. order of the rotation of the hands, each symbol pointing in the direction the card is to be dealt in t e particular one of the rotations of the ban s to which the symbol belongs, and when the pack is held in position for dealing, substantially as described. 4. A playing card having indices on its back for the rotation of the hands, and other indices inherently indicative of the direction in which the card must be dealt'in the different hands, each-of the first mentioned indices having one of thelastmentioned in dices associated therewith, substantially as described. Q r

5. A playing card having indices on its back for the rotation of the hands, and other indices inherently indicative of the direction in which the card must be dealt in the different hands, said direction indices consisting of pointers, substantially as described.

6. A playing card having a series of indices on its back for the rotation ofthe. hands, markings individual to said indices enclosing the same, and indices for the direc tion of the deals associated with said indices first mentioned and with the enclosure markings, substantially as described.

7. A playing card having a series of indices on its back for the rotation of the hands, markings individual to said indices enclosing the same, and indices for the direction of the deals associated with said indices first mentioned and with the enclosure markings, said direction indices consisting of pointers, substantially as described.

8. A playing card having the back thereof marked with a multiplicity of symbols for regulating the rotation of hands, each symbol being placed within a separate enclosure having a pointer portion to indicate the direction in which the card is to be dealt in thevparticular rotation of the hands to which the symbol and enclosure belongs.

9. A playing card having aspart of its foundation printing a series of indicesfor regulating the rotation of the hands, and registering therewith individual deslgn patterns indicating the direction of the deals.

10.'A playing card having on its back indices for the rotation of thehands and other indices for the direction of the deals,

the latter indices being of like form but differently disposed, substantially as described. Y

11. A'pack of playing cards each having indices on its back for the rotation of the hands and other indices for the direction in which the cards are to be dealt, and a memhands, north, south, east and west, said member being sealed from view and to be opened to. view after the hands have been played so thatthe scores attained by the players can be checked up with the scores indicated by the memoranda, substantially as described. 1

13. A pack of playing cards each having indices on its back for the rotation of the hands and other indices for the direction in which the cards are to be dealt, and a member associated with the pack of cards having thereon a memorandum of the handiother indices for the direction of the deals,

the latter indices being of like form but disposed at different points relative to the first indices, that is to say, the deal index belonging to one hand rotation index is .at a different location in respect thereto as compared with the location of deal indices of other hand rotation indices in the same series, substantially as described.

15. A playing card having on its back indices for the rotation of the hands and other indices for the direction of the deals, the latter indices being of like form butdisposed at different points relative to the first indices, that is to say, the deal index belonging to one hand rotation index is located on a different side thereof as compared with the location of deal indices of other hand rotation indices in the same series.

'16. A pack of playing cards each having a series of indices on its back for the rotation of th series of hands in the game, and

, other indices for the direction in which the cards are to be dealt, and a member associated with the pack of cards bearing thereon meinoranda relative to the value of hands at intermediate stages of the game, substantially as described. 1

17. A playing card having on its back a series of indices indicating the rotation of the hands. and markings enclosing the said indices and having either at top, bottom, right or left of said indices a pointer portion, substantially as described.

18. A playing card having on its back a series of indices for the rotation of the hands with a line for each index enclosing the same, each of said lines merging into a thickened pointer portion, substantially as described.

19. A pack of playing cards each having on its back a plurality of markings, one for each'hand rotation, and a symbol for each marking associated therewith, the said symbols being disposed at different points about the hand rotation markings for indi-' cating the ,direction of the deals, the deal symbol belonging to one hand rotation marking being at av different location in respect thereto as compared with the location of deal symbols of other hand rotation markings in the same series, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

MILTON B. REACH. 

